As well known to those skilled in the art, various conventional apparatuses and methods have been utilized to produce polyurethane rubber bands. One example is a conventional apparatus provided with an extruder for extruding a thermoplastic polyurethane resin into a plurality of bands and an aging compartment for heat-aging and stabilizing the bands, and a method using such apparatus. Another conventional apparatus for producing the polyurethane rubber bands includes a first device for forming a film sheet from a thermoplastic polyurethane resin according to an inflation procedure, a second device for directly fine-cutting the film sheet to form polyurethane rubber bands, and a third device for drawing and heat-aging the polyurethane rubber bands in a heat-aging compartment. The former is frequently used in Japan, and the latter is in USA. Meanwhile, Korea imports 100% of the needed polyurethane rubber bands from Japan and the USA.
However, the polyurethane rubber bands produced by the above conventional apparatuses are disadvantageous in that the polyurethane rubber bands are sticky, so they are very apt to be attached to each other and workability is reduced when they are applied to clothes. Particularly, the polyurethane rubber bands made in Japan are poor in terms of tensile strength, restoring force, and heat resistance, thus they are readily lengthened and easily broken.